PICKUP ADVICE NEEDED (MIM FENDER JAZZ)

[tearinitdown]

I am going to be buying new pickups for a MIM Standard Jazz Bass and I know there is probably information in the forums already but some is outdated as far back as 2000 and its 12 years later as we all know I would like any information on what would give certain tones and I prefer a versatile sound that works with both punchy rock tones that could be played with a pick. And also some punchy funk tones that I could get by finger picking or slapping. This bass is just getting a facelift and a rebuild to bring it back to life. Any suggestions are very much appreciated and LINKS are even better if possible. (Ebay, forums etc)
Thanks in advance!

[Nickthebass]

I recently went through the great J pickup conundrum for a build. My aim was a pretty classic, passive Jazz bass tone. If you go for something similar then I think you'll struggle to sound out of place in pretty much any situation IMO.

I ended up with a set of Nordstrand SVs and am very impressed with them. They'll give you a nice, balanced J bass tone with textured mids, tight low end and a crisp but not harsh top. If you want to drop a pre-amp in later I've mated mine with a Nordstrand circuit which is also very good.

I have a set of Nordstrand SEs in also. They too are impressive. A bit less texture and top than the SVs but a bit more thickness.

The only other Js I could recommend would be the DiMarzio Ultra Js. Again very nice and gave a great new lease of life to my old Squire Jazz.

I have a set of EMGs also but personally I'm not really into them. They sound very smooth, ultra highs and ultra lows which to me isn't really what the J bass (and bass in general) is about.

Are there particular players or tracks that you like the sound of? One man's "punchy funk tone" is another man's "nasty, toppy ping-fest"

[walterw]

if you're not sure what you want and want a pickup to "do everything", then you can't lose with quality vintage-type pickups. they'll have tone and "character" no matter what genre you bend them towards. the duncan or fender vintage-style are both nice and not too expensive, but if you want top-shelf, look at vintage repros from fralin or nordstrand.

if hum-canceling in every setting is a big concern, you can get pretty close to the original vintage tone with split-coil pickups from fralin, dimarzio, or nordstrand.